Place bird-attracting plants in the landscape

Posted: November 18, 2012 - 12:37am

This is the time of year when migrant birds fly through or to Florida, especially to enjoy seeds, insects, and fruit. Putting out a variety of seeds will make the seed eaters happy, but not all birds eat seeds alone. By planting seeding and fruiting shrubs you can increase your winter enjoyment of both our resident birds and wintering birds. Remember, don’t cut berries off of shrubs or trees in the winter. Leave the dried berries on and birds in your yard will increase.

Here’s a few Florida native plants for attracting birds: American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana); Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum); all kinds of native hollies; Elderberies, (Sambucus, moschatel family); Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). Don’t forget oaks with their acorns, and native vines like Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia); Carolina Yellow Jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens). If you have woods nearby, take a walk and make a list of the shrubs and vines you see that have berries; take your plant guide book along and learn some new native plants attracting birds. These you want to encourage and learn to identify. Too many of our native bird-attracting plants are destroyed because we do not recognize them as providing shelter and food for birds in winter.

Pokeweed or Pokeberry is often overlooked, or worse, torn out because it’s a weed. The word weed in Anglo Saxon simply meant plant. Because Anglo Saxon was dismissed as an inferior language when the French Normans conquered England, the word underwent transition from a positive meaning to a negative meaning. A lot of nonsense about weeds resulted in even more nonsense about the definitions of weeds. We’ve inherited a great many valuable plants that have been condemned by having the suffix weed attached to them.

Polkweed is one. Its berries change from green to purple-black and are relished by 52 species of birds (Songbirds in Your Garden by John K. Terres, Algonquin Books, 1994). In late fall and winter, the Pokeweed loses its leaves and begins to whither. Leave it alone. Birds come for the dried berries all winter. It may look messy, but what the birds love we should value. Next spring a new Pokeweed will come up where ever the berries land on the ground. The birds themselves are responsible for transport, fertilizing, and appreciating this common food source.

The pokeweed in the St. Augustine Shores Wildflower Meadow has been with us for over seven years, moving occasionally as the birds’ droppings dictate its location. It doesn’t need human gardeners to survive.